And now the Cardinals are again headed to the state finals thanks to an impressive and dominating 6-1 win over Hunt on Tuesday night.

Jacksonville (20-4-1) is the defending state champion and will be making its fifth trip to the title match since its regional finals streak began in 2005.

Over that nine-year span the Cardinals are 39-6 in the playoffs.

“I like that,” said coach Dave Miller, who’s been on the sideline for every one of those playoff matches. “It’s crazy. Just think about it, we’ve been to every regional final since 2005. I’ve experienced it, but you’re still like, ‘Wow!’ It’s pretty remarkable. It’s a tribute to the kids and the hard work they’ve put in.”

It’s also become a tradition, the players said, adding that if you play soccer for the Cardinals, you’re expected to win, period.

“It’s pretty crazy,” said junior midfielder Zach Hall, who had two goals against Hunt. “I haven’t been here for all (nine regional finals), but I’ve had uncles here and it’s been in the family and we’ve just all been winning.

“I guess it’s pretty much a tradition at Jacksonville to win, and we’ve just got to keep it going. “We don’t win, we disappoint, and that’s pretty much the mindset.”

Senior goalkeeper Joe Davis agreed.

“There’s an expectation to win because if you don’t win, you disappoint them (the fans),” Davis said, “and you don’t want to disappoint them.”

But how have the Cardinals been able to be so good for so long?

“Tradition just never graduates,” said Washington, who like Hall had two goals against Hunt on a cold and windy night. “We just go out there, practice, do our thing and play our game and we’re there.”

That tradition, Miller said, began in 2005, when the Cardinals were the ultimate “road warriors” en route to beating Northeast Guilford 4-0 in the regional final and Mooresville 2-1 on penalty kicks to win the state championship.

“We were in as one of the last wild cards,” Miller said. “We win five games on the road and get to the state championship and win that one. That was one of those that the younger kids kind of saw the seniors kind of believe in themselves and kind of brought everybody in.

“It’s kind of carried on since 2005. They just kind of keep buying in and believing in each other and pushing each other, and that’s what really helps is that kind of tradition has been established.”

As has the program’s motto: Believe.

“It’s been that way since 2006,” Miller said. “I kind of gave them the speech at one point in 2005, (saying), ‘You’ve got to believe in what you’re doing, believe in each other and believe in your dreams.’ It’s kind of carried on. The kids in 2006 they kind of took that as a motto and it’s been the motto ever since.”

Another tradition for the Cardinals has been beating Hunt (17-7-1) in the playoffs. The Cardinals have now won seven straight over the Warriors, outscoring them 34-4 in that streak that began in 2007.

“They’re great every time,” Hunt second-year coach Scott Summers said. “It’s like they never fall off. They just keep on coming. When they’re playing in big games like this, the younger guys on the bench they’re able to see what it’s like.”

Another indication of Jacksonville’s winning tradition was exhibited about the victory. While the Cardinals were obviously happy, the celebration was relatively muted.

“You could see there wasn’t really much emotion from them winning in the regional going into the state championship,” Summer said. “If we would have won something like this, everybody would have been on their feet and screaming. But they’re used to this.”

Maybe it was the cold. Maybe it was they’ve been here before. But in truth it was probably because they have a bigger goal: A second straight state title by beating Marvin Ridge (21-1-1) on Saturday in Raleigh.

“The biggest thing is we’ve still got to win on Saturday. We’ve still got one goal left to get,” Davis said, “and the other thing is last year it was our first time being there – well, most of the people in this class, I believe – so it was like, ‘Holy cow, we’re going to the state championship.’ So it was a lot bigger deal.

“Also, last year we had played Cardinal Gibbons (in the regional final), which we had lost to for two years in a row. So beating them was another thing we were really excited about.”

Washington said he felt the Cardinals “were pretty happy” about the win.

“But,” he added, “we didn’t want to do too much celebration because it’s back to business. We’ve got one big game left and that’s it,” Washington said. “Our ultimate goal is winning it again. We’re defending state champs and there’s a target on our back. We’ve just got to play our game and we’ll be fine.”